Face the State

Face The State Staff Report

Wearing a t-shirt reading “Kindness Regardless,” Lakewood business owner Kim Snyder broke down in tears at the Capitol Thursday afternoon shortly after a state Senate panel postponed indefinitely a bill that sought to limit the use of eminent domain by the Regional Transportation District.

The Senate Local Government Committee, chaired by Fort Collins Democrat Sen. Bob Bacon, was scheduled to re-hear House Bill 1278, co-sponsored by committee member Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton. As Face The State reported earlier this week, the committee had voted Tuesday to restore the bill's original intent after the version it received that day was watered down by House amendments. After restoring the bill to its original form, the committee was scheduled for a final vote Thursday.

In its original form, the bill prohibited RTD from transferring private property obtained through eminent domain to another private owner for the purpose of any development not directly relating to transit improvements and changes. The amended version only required that if RTD didn't use property acquired through eminent domain for transit-related purposes, it would have to sell the land back to the owner at a price equal to or less than what RTD paid for it.

The temporary restoration, however, now appears fruitless. As the committee convened Thursday, Tochtrop agreed to postpone the bill indefinitely. With just ten days left in the legislative session, the postponement is seen as a death sentence.

"I'm very disappointed in the process. If we had gotten the bill sooner we could have debated it more, but after talking it over with the House sponsors there was concern that there wasn't enough time for the House and Senate to reach a compromise on the bill," said Tochtrop, who says she has gotten a commitment from RTD to discuss eminent domain this summer. RTD's north FasTracks corridor runs directly through her district, and Tochtrop says that just because her bill was not successful doesn't mean she is going to give up on the cause.

RTD defended its heavy lobbying to kill the bill. "The original language would have prevented us from honoring our commitment to the voters to implement the FasTracks program," said Pauletta Tonilas, FasTracks Public Information Manager, "It would have prevented us from acquiring properties essential to the project."

Snyder’s business, Pro-Tint Window Tinting, is located in the direct path of RTD's west corridor light rail expansion at the corner of 14th and Wadsworth in Lakewood. “I’m heartbroken,” she said. “The message is that the constitution is a non-binding document subject to the whims of those in power.”

Snyder and her husband, Galen Foster, maintain that their property is not being sought for a valid transit-related purpose, like a rail station or parking garage, but rather for a larger private high rise that RTD hopes to put over a planned parking structure. The couple not only runs their small business out of the location, but also live in the back of the building, in a 5,000 square foot ranch home they share with their two dogs.

"RTD says it will relocate us, but how will we ever find something like this anywhere else?" Synder asked.

According to the couple's attorney, Bob Hoban, legislative leadership "wants RTD to become the funding arms of local capital improvements and private projects." This focus, he charges, means that the state will expect more private property owners to accept being forced off their property to make way for more lucrative private developments. "It's a backdoor opportunity to use eminent domain and goes against the limitations established by the legislature in 2006."

Earlier this month, lawmakers passed a bill that will allow RTD to issue tax-exempt bonds to private corporations for transit-oriented development. "This means that RTD can finance private projects through low-cost or no-cost loans to private developers," Hoban added.